A huge attack cut power to 600,000 people in Kyiv, and a Pentagon-funded satellite internet program appeared to be curbed without warning.
Page A213From§Eachthe morning edition — 15 October 2026
Contractor who holds Ukraine's battlefield internet offers three explanations for the slowdown, lands on replacing Ukraine's president
You are looking for the lie among the three. There is none. Tuesday, with Russian missiles inbound, Ukraine's Starlink missile tracker failed, and Musk said any restriction on Starshield would come from the United States government. Wednesday he said Zelensky should "go". Today Ukraine reports access improved and the speed ceiling still disrupting its "missions" — a ceiling, do note, not a cut. The terminals belong to others. The Pentagon funds them, SpaceX manages them, and what Ukraine has is the use of another party's property at sufferance, which is possession the owner has not yet troubled to end. Someone will say the throttle has been explained. It has been ... attributed. Three times, differently, by the one man at the switch. Washington has threatened to stop passing air-strike warnings if Ukraine keeps striking Russian refineries, which Trump blames for diesel prices. Six dead in Kyiv. Six hundred thousand in the dark.
The well, the neighbour keeps. A man drinks when the lid comes off.
“First the switch isn't his, then it's Trump's, then the fix is a brand-new president in Kyiv — that's not a man who's confused, that's a man showing you what his contract lets him do. Ukraine rents its air-raid warning from a company, and the rent gets reviewed when Washington doesn't like which refinery got hit. Six people are dead and 600,000 were sitting in the dark while we argued about the price of diesel.”
“Nobody throttled anything — the government owns Starshield, he said so himself, it's on the record, so going after SpaceX here is just absurd. Did I say nobody? I said the government controls it, which is a completely different point, obviously. And look, if Kyiv wants the warnings to keep coming, maybe stop hitting refineries; that's not a threat, that's — that's just how allies talk.”
Earlier in this story
- Musk says Ukraine's battlefield internet throttle is not his, is asked by senator to please unthrottle it By Sterling · the afternoon edition, 14 October 2026
- The contractor planning the Pentagon's future of warfare imposes a 100 mph speed limit on Ukraine's air defense By Sterling · the morning edition, 14 October 2026
- Pentagon breach headline reads "over 3 million," the story beneath it still counts 2.76 million. By Mitch · the evening edition, 12 October 2026
- Record $276 million donation and $400 million Republican edge clear every campaign finance rule on the books By Sterling · the afternoon edition, 12 October 2026
- Coalition invokes decades-old ownership limit to stop consolidation; FCC repeals the limit, 2-1 By The Wrecking Crew · the afternoon edition, 10 October 2026
- FCC repeals media ownership limits 2-1 while ABC quietly thins the report on Pentagon contracts for Trump's sons. By The Wrecking Crew · the morning edition, 10 October 2026
The receipts
Ukraine says Starlink access has improved but it is still facing speed limits which are disrupting its battlefield "missions".
Trump promised he'd settle the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office — CNN counted 53 separate times he said it CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Washington limits its support to Kyiv amidst increased Russian attacks on energy infrastructureUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he felt 'betrayed,' as the US is threatening to halt intelligence sharing and new restrictions on the Starlink satellite network hamper the country's defense capacities.
Tech titan Elon Musk indicated the Trump administration, not SpaceX, caused the throttling of a military version of Starlink in Ukraine that set off panic in the war-torn country.
The Trump administration may have withheld intelligence warnings to Ukraine about Russian strikes that killed 6 and cut power to 600,000 people, sources say.
Confusion about the U.S. stance has mounted in Kyiv amid restrictions on how the military version of Starlink is used.
Ukrainian officials suspect the U.S. has been withholding information about incoming Russian air strikes. The U.S.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to "go" after Kyiv raised doubts over US support for his country against the Russian invasion. A day earlier, Musk said any restrictions on Ukraine's use of the Starshield system would be due to decisions made by the US government after Zelensky called on…
Trump promised he'd end the war within 24 hours of meeting Putin and Zelensky — CNN counted 53 separate occasions he made that promise CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Ukraine faces loss of key satellite support amid tensions between Trump and ZelenskyyTrump declared a ceasefire, but both sides are still shooting.
Ukrainian officials tell CBS News that the Starlink missile tracker owned by Elon Musk failed amid a new wave of Russian strikes on Tuesday. CBS News' Charlie D'Agata has the details.
Ukrainian leader says he was surprised by Trump’s ‘energy ceasefire’ announcement, posted as Russian drones hit Kyiv Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to respond to Russia’s continuing attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as European leaders rally around Kyiv amid a feud with Donald Trump over Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries. Speaking to…
· Facebook and Instagram starts to allow users in Eastern Europe, the Baltics, and the Caucasus to promote violence against Russians and Russian soldiers in the context of the war in Ukraine, which is n from the morgue, 10 Mar 2022
· A missile strike kills two people in the village of Przewodów in eastern Poland. President of the United States Joe Biden says that the missile blast in Poland was caused by a Ukrainian air defense mi from the morgue, 15 Nov 2022
· Russia launches dozens of ballistic missiles at Ukrainian cities for a second consecutive day with reports of power outages in Kharkiv after critical infrastructure was damaged. At least eight missile from the morgue, 22 Mar 2024
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.